Hybrid transparent conductive electrode structure for solar cell application

Abstract

This study draws on our experiences with graphene to perform a hybrid TCO structure composed of AZO and graphene. We first set out to enhance the electrical and optical properties of AZO to enable its use especially in the field of solar cell. Hence, in our study, we deposited various thicknesses of AZO thin films on glass substrates and transferred single layer graphene on them to realize the formation of hybrid TCO structure. Among the various AZO film thicknesses, the optimum one, 300 nm, was determined and then the graphene film was added on top of the AZO film. This hybrid structure was applied to the silicon based heterojunction solar cell with the idea of improving the cell performance. The cell performance fabricated using AZO film and AZO + graphene structure was analyzed using solar simulator. Our findings highlight the fact that the presence of graphene improved the cell efficiency by about 7%. Our research was further extended using ITO and ITO + graphene hybrid structure as TCO for silicon-based solar cell. We discovered that graphene incorporation increased the cell efficiency by almost 12% based on our results with ITO + graphene hybrid TCO structure on a similar cell. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.